Racial Disparities in Socioeconomic Status Among Adoptive Parents

Abstract

Parents of color are underrepresented in adoption research and as adoptive parents. Consequently, there is limited understanding of racial disparities in socioeconomic status (SES) among adoptive parents. We test two hypotheses: (1) racial disparities in the United States will be reflected in the adoption community (social stratification) and (2) adoptive parents of color may need to overcome additional barriers to adoption, thus having higher SES than White adoptive parents (overcoming barriers). Using 2019 American Community Survey data, we predict adoptive parents’ ( n = 65,556) SES by race and then compare the SES of adoptive and non-adoptive parents of the same race. Across-race results support a social stratification perspective—White adoptive parents have higher SES than adoptive parents of color. Within-race results, alternatively, show that adoptive parents have higher SES than non-adoptive parents across racial groups. Therefore, although adoptive parents experience socioeconomic advantages, parents of color navigate adoption with fewer resources.